Gothic Architecture

Gothic Architecture

Editorial: Dustin Autor: Emma LiañoISBN: 84-96249-13-1Publication: 2003.Pages: 128. Measures: 21 x 28,5 cm.Photography & Illustration content

Gothic Architecture

The material content on this book it is not of my property, the photography was taken the from internet & a book that goes by the title “GOTHIC - Architecture,

Paintings & Sculpture, which in I was inspired by creating this one.This book does not have lucrative purposes, it’s been developed for an editorial school project - 2011 at CRESP (Centro Regional de Estudios Superiores Pal-

more) for Editorial Design II

Design by alecherdzInformation was taken from Wikipedia under “Gothic” tag

Index

Prologuepage no. 11

Influencespage no. 12

Materialpage no. 14

Architectural, Religious, Roman-esque Tradition

page no. 17

Gothic Churchespage no. 18

Origins & Functionspage no. 20

Characteristicspage no. 11

Referencespage no. 24

“Gothic architecture” does not imply the architec-ture of the historical Goths. It has a much wider application. The term originated as a pejorative description. It came to be used as early as the 1530s by Giorgio Vasari to describe culture that was considered rude and barbaric. At the time in which Vasari was writ-ing, Italy had experienced a century of building in the Classical architectural vocabulary revived in the Renaissance and seen as the finite evidence of a new Golden Age of learning and refinement.

The Renaissance had then overtaken Europe, overturning a system of culture that, prior to the advent of printing, was almost entirely focused on the Church and was perceived, in retrospect, as a period of ignorance and superstition. Hence, Fran-çois Rabelais, also of the 16th century, imagines an inscription over the door of his Utopian Abbey of Thélème, “Here enter no hypocrites, bigots...” slipping in a slighting reference to “Gotz” and “Os-trogotz.”In English 17th-century usage, “Goth” was an equivalent of “vandal”, a savage despoiler with a Germanic heritage and so came to be applied to the architectural styles of northern Europe from before the revival of classical types of architecture.

According to a 19th-century correspondent in the London Journal Notes and Queries:

There can be no doubt that the term ‘Gothic’ as applied to pointed styles of ecclesiastical architec-ture was used at first contemptuously, and in deri-sion, by those who were ambitious to imitate and revive the Grecian orders of architecture, after the revival of classical literature. Authorities such as Christopher Wren lent their aid in deprecating the old mediæval style, which they termed Gothic, as synonymous with everything that was barbarous and rude. On 21 July 1710, the Académie d’Architecture met in Paris, and among the subjects they discussed, the assembled company noted the new fashions of bowed and cusped arches on chimneypieces be-ing employed “to finish the top of their openings. The Company disapproved of several of these new manners, which are defective and which belong for the most part to the Gothic.”

PrologueArchitecture

11

At the end of the 12th century Europe was divid-ed into a multitude of city states and kingdoms. The area encompassing modern Germany, Neth-erlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Aus-tria, eastern France and much of northern Italy, excluding Venice, was nominally part of the Holy Roman Empire, but local rulers exercised consid-erable autonomy. France, Scotland, Spain, Sicily and Cyprus were independent kingdoms, as was England, whose Plantagenet kings ruled large do-mains in France. Norway came under the influence of England, while the other Scandinavian countries and Poland were influenced by Germany. Angevin kings brought the Gothic tradition from France to Southern Italy, while Lusignan kings introduced French Gothic architecture to Cyprus.

Throughout Europe at this time there was a rapid growth in trade and an associated growth in towns. Germany and the Lowlands had large flourishing towns that grew in comparative peace, in trade and competition with each other, or united for mutual weal, as in the Hanseatic League. Civic building was of great importance to these towns as a sign of wealth and pride. England and France remained largely feudal and produced grand domestic ar-chitecture for their dukes, rather than grand town halls for their burghers.

InfluencesRegional

12

At the end of the 12th century Europe was divid-ed into a multitude of city states and kingdoms. The area encompassing modern Germany, Neth-erlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Aus-tria, eastern France and much of northern Italy, excluding Venice, was nominally part of the Holy Roman Empire, but local rulers exercised consid-erable autonomy. France, Scotland, Spain, Sicily and Cyprus were independent kingdoms, as was England, whose Plantagenet kings ruled large do-mains in France.

Norway came under the influence of England, while the other Scandinavian countries and Po-land were influenced by Germany. Angevin kings brought the Gothic tradition from France to South-ern Italy, while Lusignan kings introduced French Gothic architecture to Cyprus.

París, France 13

Saint-Saulpice-de-Favières

Materials

A further regional influence was the availability of materials. In France, limestone was readily avail-able in several grades, the very fine white limestone of Caen being favoured for sculptural decoration. England had coarse limestone and red sandstone as well as dark green Purbeck marble which was often used for architectural features.In Northern Germany, Netherlands, northern Po-land, Scandinavia, and the Baltic countries local building stone was unavailable but there was a strong tradition of building in brick. The resultant style, Brick Gothic, is called “Backsteingotik” in Germany and Scandinavia and is associated with the Hanseatic League.In Italy, stone was used for fortifications, but brick was preferred for other buildings. Because of the extensive and varied deposits of marble, many buildings were faced in marble, or were left with undecorated façade so that this might be achieved at a later date.The availability of timber also influenced the style of architecture. It is thought that the magnificent hammer-beam roofs of England were devised as a direct response to the lack of long straight sea-soned timber by the end of the Medieval period, when forests had been decimated not only for the construction of vast roofs but also for ship build-ing.

14

París, France

Canterbury, Cathedral

16

Religious

The early Medieval periods had seen a rapid growth in monasticism, with several different or-ders being prevalent and spreading their influence widely. Foremost were the Benedictines whose great ab-bey churches vastly outnumbered any others in England. A part of their influence was that they tended to build within towns, unlike the Cistercians whose ruined abbeys are seen in the remote countryside. The Cluniac and Cistercian Orders were prevalent in France, the great monastery at Cluny having established a formula for a well planned monas-tic site which was then to influence all subsequent monastic building for many centuries.

In the 13th century St. Francis of Assisi established the Franciscans, or so-called “Grey Friars”, a men-dicant order. The Dominicans, another mendicant order found-ed during the same period but by St. Dominic in Toulouse and Bologna, were particularly influen-tial in the building of Italy’s Gothic churches.

Architectural

Gothic architecture grew out of the previous archi-tectural genre, Romanesque.

For the most part, there was not a clean break, as there was later to be in Renaissance Florence with the revival of the Classical style by Brunelleschi in the early 15th century.

Romanesque tradition

Romanesque architecture, or Norman architec-ture as it is generally termed in England because of its association with the Norman invasion, had already established the basic architectural forms and units that were to remain in slow evolution throughout the Medieval period.

The basic structure of the cathedral church, the parish church, the monastery, the castle, the pal-ace, the great hall and the gatehouse were all es-tablished. Ribbed vaults, buttresses, clustered col-umns, ambulatories, wheel windows, spires and richly carved door tympanums were already fea-tures of ecclesiastical architecture.

17

Gothic churchesPlan

In Gothic architecture, a unique combination of existing technologies established the emergence of a new building style. Those technologies were the ogival or pointed arch, the ribbed vault, and the flying buttress.The Gothic style, when applied to an ecclesiastical building, emphasizes verticality and light. This ap-pearance was achieved by the development of cer-tain architectural features, which together provid-ed an engineering solution. The structural parts of the building ceased to be its solid walls, and be-came a stone skeleton comprising clustered col-umns, pointed ribbed vaults and flying buttresses.

A Gothic cathedral or abbey was, prior to the 20th century, generally the landmark building in its town, rising high above all the domestic structures and often surmounted by one or more towers and pinnacles and perhaps tall spires. These cathedrals were the skyscrapers of that day and would have, by far, been the largest buildings that Europeans would have ever seen. Most Gothic churches, un-less they are entitled chapels, are of the Latin cross (or “cruciform”) plan, with a long nave making the body of the church, a transverse arm called the transept and, beyond it, an extension which may be called the choir, chancel or presbytery. There are several regional variations on this plan.

Most Gothic churches, unless they are entitled cha-pels, are of the Latin cross (or “cruciform”) plan, with a long nave making the body of the church, a transverse arm called the transept and, beyond it, an extension which may be called the choir, chan-cel or presbytery. There are several regional varia-tions on this plan.The nave is generally flanked on either side by aisles, usually singly, but sometimes double. The nave is generally considerably taller than the aisles, having clerestory windows which light the central space. Gothic churches of the Germanic tradition, like St. Stephen of Vienna, often have nave and aisles of similar height and are called Hallenkirche. In the South of France there is often a single wide nave and no aisles, as at Sainte-Ma-rie in Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges.In some churches with double aisles, like Notre Dame, Paris, the transept does not project beyond the aisles. In English cathedrals transepts tend to project boldly and there may be two of them, as at Salisbury Cathedral, though this is not the case with lesser churches.The eastern arm shows considerable diversity. In England it is generally long and may have two distinct sections, both choir and presbytery. It is often square ended or has a projecting Lady Cha-pel, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. In France the eastern end is often polygonal and surrounded by a walkway called an ambulatory and sometimes a ring of chapels called a “chevet”. 18

While German churches are often similar to those of France, in Italy, the eastern projection beyond the transept is usually just a shallow apsidal cha-pel containing the sanctuary, as at Florence Cathe-dral.

Neo Gothic

París, France

Origins

One of the defining characteristics of Gothic archi-tecture is the pointed or ogival arch. Arches of this type were used in the Near East in pre-Islamic as well as Islamic architecture before they were struc-turally employed in medieval architecture, and are thus thought to have been the inspiration for their use in France, as at Autun Cathedral, which is oth-erwise stylistically Romanesque.

However, contrary to the diffusionist theory, it ap-pears that there was simultaneously an ongoing structural evolution towards the pointed arch, for the purpose of vaulting spaces of irregular plan, or to bring transverse vaults to the same height as diagonal vaults. This latter occurs at Durham Cathedral in the nave aisles in 1093. Pointed arches also occur exten-sively in Romanesque decorative blind arcading, where semi-circular arches overlap each other in a simple decorative pattern, and the points are ac-cidental to the design.

Functions

The Gothic vault, unlike the semi-circular vault of Roman and Romanesque buildings, can be used to roof rectangular and irregularly shaped plans such as trapezoids. The other structural advantage is that the pointed arch channels the weight onto the bearing piers or columns at a steep angle. This en-abled architects to raise vaults much higher than was possible in Romanesque architecture.While, structurally, use of the pointed arch gave a greater flexibility to architectural form, it also gave Gothic architecture a very different visual charac-ter to Romanesque, the verticality suggesting an aspiration to Heaven.

In Gothic Architecture the pointed arch is used in every location where a vaulted shape is called for, both structural and decorative. Gothic openings such as doorways, windows, arcades and galleries have pointed arches. Gothic vaulting above spaces both large and small is usually supported by richly moulded ribs.

Rows of pointed arches upon delicate shafts form a typical wall decoration known as blind arcading. Niches with pointed arches and containing statu-ary are a major external feature. The pointed arch lent itself to elaborate intersecting shapes which developed within window spaces into complex Gothic tracery forming the structural support of the large windows that are characteristic of the style.

20

Structure

1230 - 1240 Wells

Characteristics

One of the defining characteristics of Gothic archi-tecture is the pointed or ogival arch. Arches of this type were used in the Near East in pre-Islamic as well as Islamic architecture before they were struc-turally employed in medieval architecture, and are thus thought to have been the inspiration for their use in France, as at Autun Cathedral, which is oth-erwise stylistically Romanesque.

However, contrary to the diffusionist theory, it ap-pears that there was simultaneously an ongoing structural evolution towards the pointed arch, for the purpose of vaulting spaces of irregular plan, or to bring transverse vaults to the same height as diagonal vaults. This latter occurs at Durham Cathedral in the nave aisles in 1093. Pointed arches also occur exten-sively in Romanesque decorative blind arcading, where semi-circular arches overlap each other in a simple decorative pattern, and the points are ac-cidental to the design.

22

1230 - 1245 Bayeux

23

1234 - 1251 England

1246 Sainte Chapelle

# Bony, Jean (1983). French Gothic Architecture of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0520028317. http://books.google.com/books?id=k7ytJ-gXonMC&printsec=frontcover. # Bumpus, T. Francis (1928). The Cathedrals and Churches of Belgium. T. Werner Laurie. # Clifton-Taylor, Alec (1967). The Cathedrals of England. Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0500180709. # Fletcher, Banister (2001). A History of Architec-ture on the Comparative method. Elsevier Science & Technology. ISBN 0-7506-2267-9. # Gardner, Helen; Fred S. Kleiner, Christin J. Mamiya (2004). Gardner’s Art through the Ages. Thomson Wadsworth. ISBN 0-15-505090-7. # Harvey, John (1950). The Gothic World, 1100–1600. Batsford. # Harvey, John (1961). English Cathedrals. Bats-ford. # Huyghe, Rene (ed.) (1963). Larousse Encyclope-dia of Byzantine and Medieval Art. Paul Hamlyn. # Icher, Francois (1998). Building the Great Ca-thedrals. Harry N. Abrams. ISBN 0-8109-4017-5. # Pevsner, Nikolaus (1964). An Outline of Europe-an Architecture. Pelican Books. ISBN 0140616136. # Summerson, John (1983). Pelican History of Art. ed. Architecture in Britain, 1530–1830. ISBN 0-14-0560-03-3. # Swaan, Wim (1988). The Gothic Cathedral. Omega Books. ISBN 0-9078593-48-X.

References

24

# Bony, Jean (1983). French Gothic Architecture of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries. Berkeley: University of California Press. Bumpus, T. Francis (1928). The Cathedrals and Churches of Belgium.

T. Werner Laurie.

Gothic

Architecture

This book does not have lucrative purposes, it’s only made for an editorial school project - 2011